Page 9 - atoday

WORLD NEWS 9
Thursday 5 November 2015

Iran holds negative attitude Israeli soldiers stand guard at the Halhul junction, north of the West Bank city of Hebron, Wednes-
day, Nov. 4, 2015. A Palestinian rammed his vehicle into an Israeli police officer in the West Bank
for US despite nuclear deal on Wednesday, seriously injuring him before he was shot and killed, police said.

ALI AKBAR DAREINI (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press Palestinian man rams car into Israeli officer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — As Iran marks the anniversary
of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, IAN DEITCH Palestinians in east Jerusa- saying that “fires cannot
there are signs that the Islamic Republic’s attitude Associated Press lem. The parents of minors be put out with gas, and
toward the United States is as negative as ever. JERUSALEM (AP) — A Pal- convicted of rock-throwing this law is throwing gas on
The arrests of U.S. citizens, hints of a Cold War-style estinian rammed his ve- could also have their social a fire.”
prisoner swap, fears of Western infiltration and even hicle into an Israeli police security benefits annulled The first fatality in the cur-
the shutdown of a lookalike KFC restaurant show the officer in the West Bank on during the period of the of- rent round of violence
suspicion still held by hard-liners after the nuclear Wednesday, seriously injur- fender’s sentence. was a 64-year-old Israeli,
deal with world powers. ing him before he was shot Israel’s parliament, the Alexander Levlovitz. He
In the short term, things may even get worse, analysts and killed, police said. It Knesset, announced the died and two passengers
say, as Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khame- was the latest in a nearly adoption of the law on its were hurt after Palestinians
nei continues to warn about American influence, a two-month rash of violence website Tuesday. The leg- pelted their car with rocks
crucial parliamentary election approaches and the that has seen almost daily islation was first introduced as they drove home from
country’s intelligence and military services try to hold Palestinian attacks on Is- months ago, before the a meal marking the Jewish
onto their economic and political power. raeli civilians and soldiers. current unrest began. New Year in Jerusalem.
“I think many Americans and many Iranians didn’t Police spokeswoman Luba The violence began with Israeli leaders have ac-
take the leader at his word that this does not mean Samri says the officer was clashes at a sensitive Jeru- cused Palestinian political
detente, that this is a one-off transaction. seriously wounded in the salem holy site and quickly and religious leaders of in-
I think the system was deadly serious about this,” said attack. spread across Israel and citing the violence. Pales-
Cliff Kupchan, the chairman of the Eurasia Group. “I In a bid to deter attack- into the West Bank and tinians say the violence is
think the increased contact will lead to detente with ers, Israel’s parliament this Gaza Strip. “A minimum due to a lack of hope for
the U.S., but we have a lot of harsh repression to go week passed a law tough- punishment is necessary gaining independence af-
through before we get there.” ening penalties against to create a deterrent and ter years of failed peace
On Wednesday, thousands demonstrated in front of Palestinians for throwing uproot the assumption that efforts.
the old U.S. Embassy, marking the 36th anniversary rocks at civilians and secu- ‘it’s just a stone,’” said law- Meanwhile, the leader-
of students seizing 52 Americans hostage there after rity personnel, a daily oc- maker Nissan Slomiansky, in-exile of the Islamic
Washington refused to hand over the toppled U.S.- currence that has caused who sponsored the legisla- militant group Hamas on
backed shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. casualties. tion. He said that “throw- Wednesday urged Pales-
The protest came despite the deal that will see Teh- The law places a mini- ing a rock is an attempt to tinians to step up unrest to
ran limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lift- mum sentence of three murder and there should at “liberate Jerusalem and
ing of economic sanctions. years on offenders and least be a minimum punish- the West Bank,” saying ef-
Meanwhile, four Iranian-Americans are known to strips rock-throwers of their ment.” forts by his internationally
be held by Iran: Iranian-American journalist Jason social security benefits, a Arab lawmaker Jamal Za- backed Palestinian rival
Rezaian of The Washington Post; former U.S. Marine punishment that applies to halka condemned the law, are insufficient.q
Amir Hekmati of Flint, Michigan; pastor Saeed Abe-
dini of Boise, Idaho; and Siamak Namazi, a business-
man and the son of a politician from the shah’s era.
Separately, former FBI agent Robert Levinson disap-
peared in Iran in 2007 while working for the CIA on an
unapproved intelligence mission. Iran also recently
announced the arrest of Washington-based Leba-
nese citizen Nizar Zakka, who holds permanent-res-
ident status in the U.S.
Iranian media has raised the possibility of exchang-
ing some Americans for 19 Iranians held in the U.S.
While that potential swap may figure into the arrests,
Kupchan said the detentions also signal that the Ira-
nian “deep state” still has a “number of post-deal
messages it wants to send,” including to Iranians liv-
ing abroad.
“To me, the message to the Iranian-American com-
munity is: ‘Don’t think you’re going to use your con-
nections to come in and take over economic profits
... in post-deal Iran, because you’re not,’” he said.q